' 'ili'/, 




dass. 



^\>c 



Book ^Z. 



! « t 5 



AN ORATION 



DELIVERED AT 



PORTCHESTER, 
IN THE TOWN OF RYE, 

County of Westchester, 

ON THE 

Fourth Day of July, 

1865, 

BY 

ALEXANDER W BRADFORD. 

PUBLISHED BY REQUEST. 



NEW YORK : 
BRADSTREET PRESS, 18 BEEKMAN ST, 

1866. 



Ift^, 






ORATION. 

Mr. President, Gentlemen of the Com- 
mittee, Ladies and Gentlemen of 
Rye: 

I thank you for the honor of being per- 
mitted to appear before this public assem- 
blage ; but I deeply regret that since I re- 
ceived your kind invitation, so brief space 
has been allowed me, adequately to perform 
my duty. 

The occasion is one of absorbing interest. 
It is a crowning period in our history. In 
the present hour the transactions of centuries 
seem to culminate. 

We are carried back to the time when all 
around us was an unbroken wilderness ; 
when men crossed the ocean, to plant the 
germs of a great empire and a free people, 



in a new world, reserved by Providence to 
receive them in the latter days of the earth. 

We are reminded of the infancy of the Re- 
public — of the Union which our ancestors 
established — of our gradual growth in na- 
tional power and resources — of the spirit of 
discord suddenly let loose — and the agonies, 
throes and convulsions which lately threat- 
ened to shatter the body-politic. 

The daily press supplies us constantly 
with military and naval exploits, and even 
children lisp the names of our battles, and of 
our neroes. The statistics of the war, the 
immense armies and navies, and muniments 
of war, the good Samaritans of the Christian 
and Sanitary Commissions, all these are 
household words — and I shall leave them, 
to spend a short time in some general re- 
flections specially applicable to the present 
epoch. 

In doing this, no regard shall be had to 



5 

politics. I have had none, since the 4th of 
March, 1861. 

When the flames ascended from Fort 
Sumter, party hacks were discarded, and the 
people, rising in their might, became one. 

Party lines and discipline, and maxims, 
caucuses and committees, all went down 
into one indistinguishable mass, and the 
nation was purified of parties. 

In no respect has this been more emi- 
nently exemplified than in the case of the 
present administration. It is composed of 
men of every conceivable political origin, 
and yet is harmonious — harmonious because 
animated by a pure spirit of patriotism. 
And at its head presides Andrew Johnson, 
upon whom has fallen the mantle of Elijah, 
and who wields his vast power with dignity, 
wisdom unsurpassed, with wise discretion, 
gravity of judgment, and prudence, a due 



regard to the peace of the nation and to 
constitutional government, — and with a clear 
head and a strong hand. 

Nor is there time to devote to the phil- 
osophic inquiry as to the effect of these 
events upon foreign nations — except just 
to state two points. 

First — That the inevitable influence of 
such an exhibition of the power and re- 
sources of a free government must amaze 
the peoples of the earth, and strike a chord of 
sympathy that will course like the electric 
fluid, and arouse them to action. 

Second — That America stands to-day un- 
daunted before all the earth, with no superior 
— full of glory — without reproach and with- 
out fear. 

And what of the public debt ? Magna res. 
It is a large thing. Some of the wise men 
call it a national blessing, some a national 



curse; but honest people accept it, know it 
must be paid, and propose to pay it — to the 
last dollar. 

Leaving these and other questions — Maxi- 
milian — damages for depredations on our 
commerce — negro suffrage and negro labor 
— to the certain solution of time, which al- 
ways resolves all perplexities ; let us turn for 
a few moments to ourselves, and the circum- 
stances under which we are assembled. 

What a day is this ! How, filled to over- 
flowing with joys and sorrows, with teeming 
memories of the past, and congratulations 
of the present; and although the storm be 
gone, yet as one smiles in tears, the sun 
paints upon the subsiding cloud the glorious 
rainbow of gladsome hope and precious 
promise. 

" They that sow in tears 
Shall reap in joy." 

" He that goeth on his way weeping, and 



beareth forth good seed, shall doubtless 

come again with joy, and bring his sheaves 

with him." 

Let me ask, why is it we celebrate this day ? 

Because it marks the birthday of our 
national existence ? 

That it commemorates an historical event 
of domestic interest and importance ? 

Because it signalizes the declaration of 
Independence ? 

That it is a monument on the course of 
time signifying a certain degree in the pro- 
gress of government ? 

Truly, all these and many other minor 
reasons exist, for the gathering together of 
the people. 

But there is one higher and deeper; 
which sweeps in all time, all races, peoples, 
tribes and tongues ; which girts the earth, 
enchains the interest of universal humanity, 



and mounts up to the very heavens in 
supernal majesty. This day is the anniver- 
sary of the promulgation of the gospel of 
freedom. 

In secular history it is the day of days ; 
and until sun and moon and stars decay, the 
truths it symbolizes will gladden the hearts 
of the oppressed ; will be wafted from n-ation 
to nation, until the spirit of universal 
emancipation, planted as deeply and firmly 
as the mountains, shall cover the earth as 
the waters cover the seas. 

I speak not in a vain spirit of glorification, 
but under a deep sense and conviction of 
the theme I expound. 

" We hold," said our forefathers, " these 
truths to be self-evident : that all men are 
created equal ; that they are endowed by 
their Creator with certain unalienable rights; 
that among these are life, liberty and the 
pursuit of happiness." 



lO 

** Self-evident" were these truths; not 
attained by chop-logic, cunning reasoning or 
acute metaphysics; not the product of dia- 
lecticians or schoolmen or hair-splitting law- 
yers. But self-evident — manifested by their 
own light, as the meridian sun, — shining in 
every heart that beats, lighting up every 
human soul; burning in every bosom wher- 
ever a man treads the face of the earth ; — 
clouded, it may be for a time, or for ages, 
among the downcast and oppressed ; — crush- 
ed indeed, and overwhelmed almost by grind- 
ing tyrannies and despotisms; but still 
undying: among the weakest, witnessed by 
the still small voice of nature: and among the 
stronger and more valiant, speaking out, 
trumpet-tongued, with heroic daring and 
with noble deeds. 

"All men are created equal." Shout the 
glad tidings ! Down fall kings and dynasties ! 
Man is born free! There is neither might. 



II 

nor power, nor dominion, which can of 
right oppress him, for by the law of his crea- 
tion he is born free. Omnes homines liberi 
nascebantur. Nature has neither caste nor 
distinction, hereditary right nor title of 
nobility. She knows neither prerogatives 
of wealth nor of power. 

The freedom of man is unbounded; with- 
out chains or shackles. It has no depend- 
ence upon fortuitous circumstances. It is 
not an accident of color — tawny Indian, white 
Caucasian, or the black slave — all are born 
free. Whatever in the malice, and wicked- 
ness, and selfishness of their fellow-creatures 
may be done unto them ; however they may 
be brought low, and be placed under task- 
masters, and made hewers of wood and 
drawers of water, and brick-makers without 
straw ; however they may be sold into cap- 
tivity, torn from weeping wives and children ; 
yet this is man's work — by God, they were 
born free! 



12 

Oh, inestimable and precious truth ! light- 
ing up with its celestial glory the cottage of 
the poor, the dungeon of the innocent 
prisoner, and the desolate wastes of human 
slavery, and proclaiming to the miserable 
and oppressed all over the face of the earth 
the inherent dignity and majesty of the 
nature of man ! 

And we are all born with unalienable rights ! 
— rights with which we cannot part. We 
cannot surrender them — cannot be lawfully 
deprived of them, by force, temptation or 
cunning. They are unalienable — they be- 
long to our nature. They are not negotia- 
ble. They are part and parcel of our human- 
ity — subject neither of barter or sale, stealth 
or robbery. 

What are these rights ? — life, liberty and 
the pursuit of happiness. 

The first is life. That, indeed, compre- 
hends all. It embraces liberty and the pur- 



13 

suit of happiness. Life as a man — with a 
soul, endowed by the Creator; clothed with 
attributes but little lower than the angels. 

Think of all the powers of the human 
mind and the human heart ; the relations 
of parent and child, husband and wife — the 
tender affections and the exquisite delights 
which cluster around the domestic fireside ; 
where a man's home is his castle — the cas- 
tle of his happiness. 

Think of the triumphs of science and art 
and knowledge, — the investigating mind 
which has explored the deepest resources of 
the physical world, and brought all her pow- 
ers into subjection ; — the noble strains of 
poetry, the voice of history, the dreams of 
philosophy, the sweet ballads and grand an- 
thems of music, the glorious works of paint- 
ing, architecture and sculpture; and, above 
all, the sanctities of religion and the worship 
of God, wherein to walk we are all made free. 



These are all unalienable rights given unto 
us by the Supreme Creator, and which no 
man can take from us ! 

I have thus briefly, my friends, indicated 
the great truths promulgated by the Decla- 
ration of Independence, eighty-nine years 
this day, and the deliberate announcement 
of which, to my mind (and I cannot but 
think you will agree with me) marked a new 
era in the history of man. 

They were advocated at the point of the 
sword. For them our fathers bled and died. 
In them our fathers laid and cemented the 
foundations of the republic. For them their 
posterity have lately passed through tribula- 
tion and anguish and the dire conflicts of 
war ; and in them we now renew our alle- 
giance to the cause of universal emancipa- 
tion. 

But there was another circumstance which 
characterized the Declaration of the 4th day 
of July, 1776. 



15 

It was made by the representatives of the 
United States of America, in general Con- 
. gress assembled, " in the name and by the 
authority of the good people of these colo- 
nies," and it solemnly published and declared 
that these "united colonies" are, and of 
right ought to be, free and independent 
States. 

No colony went out single-handed into 
the bitter conflict with England. No State 
acted without the sanction of its constitu- 
ents ; but the People commanded the act, 
and the " United colonies" sanctioned it. 

This UNION was congenital with our ex- 
istence as a sovereign power. The States 
were all born together, as free and Inde- 
pendent States. 

I wish to draw your especial attention to 
the fact that on the 15th day of November, 
in the year 1777, " in the second year of the 
independence of America," as they style it, 



i6 

of America, not of the States — the delegates 
of the United States, including all the thir- 
teen original States, agreed to certain arti- 
cles of general government, and these were 
styled " articles of confederation and per- 
petual union." Not merely union, but per- 
petual union. 

These articles were the basis of the pres- 
ent constitution, and though modified in 
many respects, it will be found by the care- 
ful examiner that they presented the very 
keel and ground-work of the constitution 
of 1789. 

They conclude with this solemn invoca- 
tion : 

" And whereas, it has pleased the Great 
Governor of the world to incline the hearts 
of the Legislatures we respectively represent 
in Congress to approve of, and to author- 
ize us to ratify the said articles of confeder- 
ation and perpetual union : Know ye, that 



17 

we, the undersigned delegates, by virtue of 
the power and authority to us given for that 
purpose, do by these presents, in the name 
and in behalf of our respective constituents, 
fully and entirely ratify and confirm each and 
every of the said articles of confederation 
and perpetual union, and all and singular 
the matters and things therein contained ; 
and we do further solemnly plight and en- 
gage the faith of our respective constituents, 
that they shall abide by the determinations 
of the United States in Congress assembled, 
on all questions which by the said confeder- 
ation are submitted to them ; and that the 
articles thereof shall be inviolably observed 
by the States we respectively represent, and 
that the union shall be perpetual!^ 

Now we have here several memorable 
facts : 

I. That throwing off the authority of the 
3 



i8 

crown of England, the Legislatures were the 
sovereign authorities of the States. 

2. That for the purpose of forming a con- 
federation they appointed certain delegates, 
with plenary powers, to ratify certain ar- 
ticles of confederation. 

3. That those articles provided for a per- 
petual union ; and 

4. The delegates solemnly ratified those 
articles, and declared that the union shall be 
perpetual. Esto perpetua. 

Add to this again : 

1. That the declaration of independence 
was made by the united States as a unit — as 
one organized body. 

2. That the present constitution was 
adopted by the people of the United States 
in order to form a more perfect union — and 
we have the clear and undeniable fact graven 
and cut deep upon the very corner-stone of 



19 

the republic, that our great government is 
a national unity. E pluribus unum. One 
and indivisible. 

The thought that fills my mind this day 
is that the American people have now, after 
the lapse of so many years, fully and effi- 
ciently — without stint or measure, without 
limit or compass, but largely, broadly and 
universally, by arms and by blood, con- 
firmed ratified and sanctioned, in the face of 
the world, before kings and despots, the two 
great principles of the Declaration of Inde- 
pendence — the unity of the republic and the 
freedom of man. 

Both of these have been wrought out and 
finally determined forever on this continent 
by the late war. 

Whatever be the form of government, the 
enlightened and thoughtful man prefers al- 
most any form to no government at all ; 
for anarchy, the absence of all government, 



is in its very nature subversive of the peace 
and order of society, the enjoyment of life, 
liberty and property, the welfare and hap- 
piness of every member of the community. 

Union is the type of order, peace and tran- 
quillity at home — abroad, of national power 
and majesty. 

Secession is the incarnation of anarchy. 

It plots in secret conclaves, through long 
years, vile treachery. 

It betrays sacred trusts. It contemns sa- 
cred oaths of allegiance. 

It carries treason into cabinet councils. 

It breaks solemn contracts. It violates 
constitutions. 

It bids defiance to the obligations of law 
and of conscience. 

It repudiates pecuniary obligations. It 
carries the pirate flag upon the high seas. 



21 

It poisons, steals, decoys, ensnares, de- 
stroys, burns, and assassinates ! 

From the beginning to the end it is one 
long continuous career of every shade of 
crime and human malignity. 

I think this picture is not over-drawn. 
There may be minds unwilling to receive 
it — but it will be vindicated by history ; and 
at home and abroad, in all future time, man- 
kind will regard the moral qualities of se- 
cession with loathsome disgust and right- 
eous indignation. 

Now what is the vital principle of seces- 
sion ? Why, nothing more nor less than a 
supposed right resident somewhere to rebel 
without sufficient cause, or any cause ; to 
separate from a lawful government, and form 
an independent society. 

And what is the real principle of unity ? 
Why, nothing more nor less than the converse 
of the previous proposition. The right of 



11 



a lawful government to stay, restrain and 
prevent the separation of a part; and I 
may add the power to do it. Wayward sis- 
ters are to be kept at home. 

Now secession obviously embodies a prin- 
ciple of weakness, division, disorder and 
confusion. And it has no limit. It may be 
carried to States, cities, counties, towns and 
wards ; and if it authorizes upon just ground 
the secession of South Carolina, it may as 
well authorize the secession of the town of 
Rye, or the ancient village of Port Chester; 
and in such case there is no earthly reason 
why we should not have our President, Cab- 
inet and Congress, and capitol, on this hill, — 
which might be agreeable, though very ex- 
pensive. 

Union, on the other hand, embodies all 
the elements of order, power, vigor and con- 
centration. It binds together a great people 
under one government, with the same laws, 



23 

the same language, the same interests, and 
presents to the world the port and mien — one 
unbroken front — of a great nation. 

Let us now leave the philosophy of this 
case, and see if we have not all learned some 

lessons in the experience of the past four 

years. 

The time has come for confession of all 
weaknesses and prejudices, the abandonment 
of all set notions, the relinquishment of ar- 
tificial political affinities, and a fair and just 
recognition of our duties as citizens under 
the altered circumstances of the republic. 

How little men know of the greatness of 
the plan of human action in which they daily 
take a part. Intent only on the pursuit of 
the hour, winning our daily bread ; occupied 
with the emotions, or passions, or senti- 
ments of our nature, and which enliven only 
a brief existence, we have little comprehen- 
sive forecast or philosophy. And even with 



24 

the application of all our reflection and sa- 
gacity, how impenetrable are the great 
problems of history, until they are solved 
by the demonstration of events. We are 
all participators — each one in his humble ca- 
pacity. But with minds contracted to the 
narrow limits of temporal occupations, we 
hardly notice, unless especially called to the 
consideration, the vast movements carrying 
us irresistibly, though imperceptibly forward. 
The mighty tide and swell of the ocean of 
humanity, on which we are borne, is heaving 
upward and onward without our being con- 
scious of its motion or power, unless arrest- 
ed by some sudden shock and dire calamity ; 
or borne safely within a haven of rest and 
felicity. 

In the ineffable goodness of God we have 
been happily brought to a state of peace and 
repose, and may we now on this day be 
thankful. 



^5 

One of the lessons of this war is the dem- 
onstration of the fact — First, That cotton 
is not king; and Second, That the Yankees 
are not tied to the everlasting dollar, but 
can fight — and I might add that the Puri- 
tans are not all sniveling and cowardly hyp- 
ocrites, who are afraid of bullets, though 
devoted to prayers. 

There was a time when the good town of 
Rye apparently belonged to Connecticut, 
and Mamaroneck river was the Rubicon of 
New England. After sundry contests the 
stakes were taken up, and Byram river be- 
came the territorial limit. I mention this 
only to show that if that river had taken a 
short turn and flowed a little further north- 
west, Port Chester and this audience, with all 
its distinction and beauty, would have been 
at the present moment in the State of Con- 
necticut! — and that would have been horri- 
ble ! Connecticut with its wooden nutmegs ! 
4 



26 

By-the-by, I never met a person who had 
ate one. Connecticut, where apprentices 
were wont to stipulate not to have salmon 
over twice a week ! where chewing tobacco, 
— Lilienthal, and Solace, and Mrs. Miller — 
were all forbidden, under terrible pains and 
penalties ! where husband and wife could 
not lawfully kiss on Sunday ! no doubt they 
made up for it during the week. 

So we see how much we have escaped by 
this accident about the course of Byram 
river. The fact is, if Connecticut had not 
intervened we should have been in Mas- 
sachusetts, and been compelled to swallow 
the Mayflower, and Plymouth Rock, Cot- 
ton Mather and all the witches of Salem. 
Nay, we might even have been compelled to 
stand on Bunker Hill, when Extra Billy 
Smith calls the roll of his slaves under the 
shadow of the monument. 

When I was Surrogate of New York, 



27 

among the records of my office I found the 
will of a well-known gentlemen, dead some 
fifty years since, in which he very carefully 
directed that his son should receive an ele- 
gant education ; but that upon no possible 
condition, nor under any conceivable cir- 
cumstances, should he ever be instructed by 
a Connecticut schoolmaster ! I at first 
thought that the testator had in his youth- 
time suffered fearfully under New England 
birch, but reading on a little further I began 
to doubt his sanity, for he provided by an- 
other clause of his will for his disconsolate 
and distressed widow, by giving her an an- 
nuity of $3,000 a year, so long as she re- 
mained unmarried ; but in case she married 
again he gave her $5,000 a year ! No doubt 
he wished some other unhappy person to 
discover the pleasures of matrimony in that 
direction. 

Fortunately, since that period the Con- 



28 

necticut school-master has been abroad, and 
New England has left the stamp of her 
character and institutions, and principles, 
upon all the great States of the North ! 

See in what a miserable plight and be- 
nighted condition was this town of Rye in 
1774, two years before the Revolution. 
John Adams, the first Vice-President of the 
United States, and its second President, the 
successor of George Washington, the father 
of John Quincy Adams, the godfather of 
the abolition of slavery, writing in August 
of that year, as he was traveling along the 
old Boston post road, says on Friday, the 
19th of that month: *" Rode to Fitches, 
of Stamford, where we breakfasted. Rode 
to Haviland's, of Rye. (That family seem- 
ed to have all the land in Rye, at that period.) 
Rode to Haviland's, of Rye, the first town 
in the province of New York." He meant 
the first town he met ; not the first in con- 



^9 

dition — for deeply impressed with Puritan- 
ism, he adds, no doubt in great sorrow and 
tribulation : "The barber says that religion 
don't flourish in this town." Model of a 
barber. It is clear that good John Adams 
was shaved that morning; for judging the 
past from the present the town must have 
been eminently religious. In order, how- 
ever, to prove the case, he says, informed 
no doubt under the lather and razor of the 
barber: "The Congregational society have 
no minister. The Church minister has 
forty-five pounds from the society. They 
, have a school for writing and ciphering, but 
no grammar school. ' (The Port Chester 
Monitor will note that !) There is no law 
of this province that requires a minister or 
a schoolmaster." 

Now I submit, in view of the present 
condition of the population of Rye, that all 
this was a most abominable and barberous 



30 

scandal ; and if that detestable barber could 
be found his name should be held up for 
public execration. 

The same John Adams was an ardent ad- 
vocate of the idea of carrying New England 
into the South. It was too good a thing to 
be left at home and waste its sweetness on 
the desert air. He thought we should all 
row in the same boat together, though with 
different skulls. Shortly afterwards he met 
a Southern friend, Major Langbourne. "He 
was lamf^nting the difference of character be- 
tween Virginia and New England. I offered 
to give him a receipt for making a New 
England in Virginia. He desired it ; and 
I recommended to him, town-meetings, 
training-days, town-schools and ministers — 
giving him a short explanation of each arti- 
cle. The meeting-house, and school-house 
and training-field are the scenes where New 
England men were formed. Col. Trumbull, 



3^ 

who was present, agreed that these are the 
ingredients." The colonel seems to have 
treated it as a dose of medicine to cure the 
South. 

Now laying aside all pleasantry, do we 
not find a great historic and a still greater 
moral truth in these notes .? Have not the 
minister and the school-master been the pi- 
oneers of the North ? Have they not 
gone out, with the adventurer, into the wil- 
derness, and made it bud and blossom as 
the rose ? Have they not carried into the 
bosom of the forest, and upon the broad 
prairies, and to the summit of the Rocky 
Mountains, and down to the shores of the 
great Pacific, all the culture of the human 
intellect and understanding ; the knowledge 
of God and the faith of Christ ? 

And the training-school — the stern teach- 
er of law and order : of obedience to law 
and discipline ; the real author and father of 



32 

Annapolis and West Point. Where were our 
heroes begotten and trained ? Thomas and 
Wright, Meade and Sheridan, Sherman and 
Ulysses ? Children of the training-school. 
And from children they have become men, 
and illustrate with undying glory the insti- 
tutions of this great Republic, the principles 
of the Constitution, and the fidelity we owe 
to truth, justice, liberty and humanity. 

At the outset of the war it was said, at 
home and in Europe, the North will never 
fight. 

Hear the gallant words of Logan : 

" If Mr. Lincoln is elected I will shoulder 

my musket to have him inaugurated." 

" I am to-day a soldier of the Republic, 

so to remain, changeless and immutable, 

until her last and weakest enemy shall have 

expired and passed away." 

" I have entered the field to die, if need 
be, for this government ; and never expect 



33 

to return to peaceful pursuits until the ob- 
ject of this war of preservation has become 
a fact established." 

" If the South, by her malignant treach- 
ery, has imperiled all that made her great 
and wealthy, and it was to be lost, I would 
not stretch forth my hand to save her from 
destruction, if she will not be saved by a 
restoration of the Union. Since the die of 
her wretchedness has been cast by her hands, 
let the coin of her misery be circulated alone 
in her own dominions, until the peace of 
the Union ameliorates her forlorn condition." 

"The North will not fight!" 

As suddenly on some bright and peaceful 
summer's day, the cloud in the horizon, like 
a man's hand, quickly swells until it black- 
ens the heavens, and men shrink terrified 
and appalled before the furious and sweeping 
blasts of wind and rain, and the fierce stroke 
and crash of the grand artillery of the skies. 



34 

and the voice of man is hushed and his 
heart lies still in his breast — so we saw that 
great uprising and tempest of the people, 
pouring forth like a vast torrent, and over- 
whelming all before it. 

Reposing in fancied peace and security ; 
incredulous of danger, and disbelieving the 
portents of the coming storm, the nation 
was aroused from lethargy on that dark and 
dreary day of April, when our glorious ilag 
was trailed in the dust. 

And then, and since then, what a won- 
derful spectacle ! 

Never before in the history of man have 
a free people been called to vindicate the 
sacred rights of human freedom. Alexander, 
and Cassar, and Napoleon, with phalanx, 
and legion, and armed hosts, impersonated 
the love of conquest, ambition, and personal 
glory and selfishness. But the American 



35 

people, inspired by patriotism, by devotion 
to their country, their constitution, their 
honor : and with souls sanctified, and wills 
intensified, and hearts and nerves and arms 
invigorated to strike for 

Their altars and their fires, 

For the green graves of their sires, 

For God and their native land, 

poured forth in countless numbers from hill- 
side, valley and prairie, from the mountains 
to the sea, from the rivers of the North to 
the rivers of the South — a mighty multi- 
tude, the number of whom was as the sands 
of the sea, or stars of heaven. 

And tender woman hastened, with heroic 
spirit, to give up her jewels. The mother 
fastened the sword to the side of her beloved 
son; and sister bade her brother God speed, 
and the maiden parted from her lover — all 
with sighs and tears and prayers; but with 
the firm determination of Spartans. And 
how many gazed on those dear forms for the 



36 

last time? Oh, how little can we who re- 
mained at home know of the agonies of 
those brave hearts; the pains and trials and 
sufferings of the soldier; the weary march; 
the sickly camp; exposure to weather; pri- 
vation of food; the death- wound on the 
battle-field, or the wretchedness and number- 
less miseries of a prisoner of war. How, 
amid such scenes of woe, the heart turns 
back to home, and longs and craves for one 
word of affection and sympathy, one look 
of tender love — some kind assurance that 
the deed will not be forgotten. 

All honor to the immortal dead. They 
are not dead — but they will live, not only 
in the scroll of human glory, not only in 
the history of the age, not only enshrined 
in the dearest heart of hearts of a grateful 
people; in the heroic song, in the fireside 
ballad, in the cottage and the Senate hall; 
but doubtless their noble devotion, their 



37 

sacrifice at the sacred altar of that liberty 
wherewith God has made all his creatures 
free — the offering of their lives for the de- 
fence of his gifts of freedom, and truth, and 
justice, will make them precious in His 
sight. 

All honor to the immortal dead ! And 
as that countless throng of souls stream 
their way up the towering vaults of Heaven, 
let us be mindful of their great example. 

And all honor to the immortal living! 

By your valor, your arms, your endur- 
ance and your fidelity, works have been 
accomplished beyond the wildest dreams of 
imagination or the scope of deliberate 
thought. As in the oriental romance, vast 
forms suddenly spring from the earth, and 
palaces and great structures are formed in a 
night — so, as if the earth had been struck 
by the spear of Mars, vast armies sprang 
into existence — multitudes in the valley of 



38 

decision; and they went forth, to many a 
defeat and disaster, many terrible blows and 
repulses, many a horrid gash and wound, 
many scoffs and reproaches; still they moved 
on. They bared their breasts to the bullet 
and the bayonet; they followed the thunder- 
ing squadrons of the indomitable Sheridan; 
they rallied around the resolute and inflexi- 
ble Thomas. They swept from the West 
to the ocean under the lead of that great 
captain and commander — hero of heroes — 
General Sherman. 

And those with Ulysses Grant toiled 
through the wilderness — watched and wait- 
ed — waited and watched. They fought by 
day and fought by night. He was patient 
— they were patient. Others were startling 
the world by brilliant achievements. Others 
seemed to be reaping the harvest of glory! 
Never was there a nobler specimen of hu- 
man greatness. He stood like a granite 



39 

column — unmoved, calm, composed, silent. 
His hand moved; his genius directed; but 
for himself he bided his time, until when, 
amid the general crash, fire, and flames, and 
convulsive dissolution of the rebellion, he 
planted on the smouldering walls of the 
enemy's capital the flag of the Union — that 
war-worn and battle-stained flag; that honor- 
ed flag of our fathers; that banner which 
blazons the stars of Heaven, and which will 
be dear to the soldier and the patriot as long 
as the stars shall continue to shine in the 
firmament. 

And how shall we speak of Abraham 
Lincoln? What tongue can tell, what art 
portray the lineaments of his character — his 
great heart — his broad humanity ? 

The Supreme Governor of the world 
never leaves its guidance. His hand and 
wisdom control, as the celestial system 
above, the terrestrial sphere below; and 



40 

men are always provided for his work, as 
they are demanded by necessities. 

As the patriarch of old said, "My son, 
God will provide an offering," so this being 
was provided for us. Raised from the 
humblest condition, fed out of no lordly 
dish, trained in the hardships and discipline 
of labor and self-reliance, without help from 
the elegance and refinement of intellectual 
culture, or the wisdom of philosophy and 
statesmanship, he was provided for us — the 
man for the time. 

As the speaker stood by his funeral couch, 
surrounded by assembled generals and admi- 
rals, officers of state and justice, and foreign 
ministers arrayed in all the pomp and cir- 
cumstance of rank and title; and saw all 
that remained of that venerated man, the 
thought could not be repressed that there 
was no hereditary or accidental greatness — 
neither glittering star on his breast, nor 



4^ 

jeweled crown upon his temples; but born 
of the people, the child of the people, he 
had in the simple majesty of a pure, truth- 
ful, upright, honest heart, become the man 
of the age. 

And as the prayer rose in that presence, 
and the divine besought heaven that the 
principles which Abraham Lincoln had lived 
to carry on to victory, and had died to con- 
secrate with his blood, might prevail all over 
the civilized world, until truth and justice 
should be triumphant, thrones and domin- 
ions fall prostrate, before their onward 
march, chains drop from the limbs of the 
captive, the prison-house be opened, and 
man be free ; as if by an irrepressible emo- 
tion and'impulse, in deep and solemn awe, 
with a voice as from the grave all the people 
said amen ! amen ! 

And so let it be ! Americans ! we to- 
day salute the memorv of the Revolution ! 
6 



42 

We hold up to our ancestors the bright in- 
heritance they bequeathed us. Their banner 
and our banner still floats to the breeze ; and 
we stand together as a band of brothers, 
with no stain of slavery on our escutcheon, 
with our garments unspotted and our vest- 
ments undimmed by any law of oppresssion 
or wrong. 

We stand together with the Union — for 
the Union — and with an imperishable 
Union. 

We swear for her to live, with her to die ! 



Thy spirit, Independence, let me share, 

Lord of the iron-heart and eagle-eye ; 
Thy steps I follow, with my bosom bare, 

Nor heed the storm that howls along the sky. 

Deep in the frozen regions of the North 

A Heavenly goddess brought thee forth, 
Immortal Liberty, whcse look sublime 

Hath bleached the tyrant's cheek in every varying time. 



i 



OCT 1 i 1909 



nr^': 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 





HflM 




